This giveaway is closed.
A few months ago, Pearson Education contacted me to see if I would accept a copy of WordPress In Depth by Bud Smith and Michael McCallister to do a review and a giveaway. I don’t usually have time to do book reviews, but I was interested in how this book presented WordPress to the new user and whether it would be something I can recommend to you. I accepted the copy and agreed to do the giveaway. (Insert happy, “YAY!” from the gallery.)
I’ll be giving away five copies of WordPress In Depth
and the instructions for entry will be at the end of this post. But first let me tell you why you’ll want to win this book.
I really liked that this book tackles both WordPress.com (the hosted version) and WordPress.org (the self-hosted version). Bud and Michael explain the differences between the two options, then proceed to explain how to use both, including links to WordPress resources for beginner questions, set up for askismet spam filter, and frequently asked WordPress questions.
My favorite thing about this book, though, is that, even if you’ve never blogged, you can pick up this book, follow its instructions, and have working WordPress.com or WordPress.org blog very quickly. If you’re using WordPress.com (hosted), the book walks you through everything from changing your blog settings (e.g., general, privacy, and discussion) — including those settings you won’t find in your dashboard (e.g., rating posts, pages, and comments) to choosing a theme (the book actually lists and describes many themes and why they may fit your needs). If you’re using WordPress.org (self-hosted), the authors walk you through how to choose a server and FTP files, then help you set up your blog with themes and settings. Instructions that could easily confuse a novice are clearly written using easy-to-understand language.
Other topics in the book include:
- choosing and using a custom domain name
- understanding, choosing, and installing plug-ins and widgets
- PHP basics (PHP is the scripting language for WordPress)
- including graphics in your posts
- tracking your stats
- using XML, XHTML, and CSS to build your own theme
In short, this book is useful to beginners and intermediate users of WordPress. That’s quite a feat in my estimation because it’s hard to cover enough information for a beginner and still offer useful tips to those who are already familiar with the software. This book does it, though, and I recommend you either win one of the five copies I’m giving away or go buy a copy for yourself (or a friend who’s using WordPress).
To win a copy of WordPress In Depth, please leave me a comment below telling me why you’d like to win this book. Are you a newbie trying to figure out where to start your blog? Or have you been at this a while and are interested in installing WordPress.org?
You can also tweet about this giveaway. If you do, just leave a separate comment with a link to your tweet. Not sure what to tweet? You can come up with your own Tweet, click on the ReTweet button after this post (it’s down there by the Share and Enjoy links), or cut and paste this into your Twitter stream:
Blogging Basics 101 is giving away 5 copies of WordPress In Depth. Great for beginner & intermediate bloggers! http://bit.ly/cyDYvv
You can find the permalink to your tweet by going to your Twitter profile page (twitter.com/username), finding your tweet, then clicking on the timestamp.
The URL of the resulting page is what you need to leave in the comment.
***Only one tweet per day, please; we don’t want to spam the Twittersphere, we just want them to know the giveaway is here.
I’ll choose a winner on Friday, April 23 using Random.org. Good luck!
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This book sounds great! I am a fairly new blogger on WordPress and am considering my own domain. This book appears to have all the bases covered. Pick me, Random.org!!
I’d love a copy of this book as I’ve been toying with the idea of building my own themes and this sounds like a great place to start.
I’ve been using WordPress for years, but I’ve barely touched the surface of what it will do. I’d love to see if this book could teach me something new, but I’d also love to use it to teach others the basics. I’m the admin for our church web site and I need an easy way to train others to use WP so they can help update the site.
Hi melanie! I’m so glad I came back and checked your site…LOL I’m going to become a follower so I don’t miss anything! anyhoo….I’ve been using WordPress.org for a little over a year now. I have a hosting acct. through GoDaddy.com. I have been wanting to become more knowledgeable about wordpress.org b/c I want to get the most enjoyment out of my blog. You know? I was JUST telling my boyfriend how frustrated I get b/c I try to figure out how to get certain applications to work that require Javascript or I struggle with getting the HTML codes to work…ack! So, this book sounds like a great resource! Thankyou for allowing me the opportunity to enter for it. I have been recommending your site to newbie bloggers as well to help them get started as your site has been a great plethora of info as well! Thanks again and have a great day!!
I want to start a blog at work (public library) but don’t know where to start. I think this book would be a big help.
Tweet tweet!
http://twitter.com/foxygknits/status/12623873657
I’d really like to learn more about WordPress to see if it’s a better alternative to Blogger which we currently use for our company blog.
Hi Melanie,
I would love a copy of WordPress In Depth because I have two blogs, one on WordPress and the other on blogspot.com and I’m much happier with the WordPress interface so I’ll be attempting to migrate the blogspot one over there. I also am working with a bunch of other aspiring writers and artists who want to create/enhance their blogs so I’ll be sure to share the resource and my learnings. I also share resources for social media through my Tweets as Annieinthesun. Hope to connect with other BlogHer peeps and your readers.
I have a new WordPress blog for parents, teachers and homeschoolers to connect and share. Everything is new to me and I’m always trying to learn more! Read WordPress for Dummies and look forward to tackling this book!
Thank you for all of the information on this site!
I’d love to win this book because I am in the process of switching from blogger to wordpress.
I’m ba-ack!
http://twitter.com/foxygknits/status/12685347155
I’ve been using Blogger for a while now and it’s OK. I really, really like how the WordPress blogs look! They look so much more professional and sleek! Thanks so much for the chance to win this book!
I tweeted again: http://twitter.com/dawnfarias/status/12699325059
Thanks for this give away!
I would love a copy because I don’t like the way my blog was set up by our designer but there is some crazy coding that I can’t seem to circumvent. Constantly frustrated!
Decided to go it alone into the wordpress world! I am in desperate need of a website refresh, as it is 3/4 iweb adn 1/4 wordpress. I have delayed a website overhaul because admittedly I have no idea how to configure what I have. This book seems like something that could help!
Thanks!
Stephanie (@stephaniedelk)
I also want to know how to install/use typekit fonts – so me, me, me, please!
I’ve been on WordPress for almost a year, but would love to learn more about it because there is still so much that I don’t know.
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